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Car stalling and shaking help...

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Old Oct 1, 2009 | 10:07 AM
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Car stalling and shaking help...

Ok, my car has been recently shaking alot, I just recently replaced the spark plugs about 2 months ago. yesterday on my way to the gym my car was shaking, and right before I got there it shut off. First time ever.. Also the car makes a whistling noise when I accelerate. Is also seeing loss of power when I try to floor it. My Rx8 is 2004 Automatic. I change the oil every 2500 miles. I have warranty that I bought from the bank, but I would like to know if anyone might know what the problem might be?
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Old Oct 1, 2009 | 10:28 AM
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A whistling sound through the speakers is usually a bad ground . Check your battery.

For the idle... Recheck the spark plugs, one is loose or wire is loose.

If ok, Rev up engine and see if it moves. You may have a bad motor mount.

Have you cleaned the MAF recently?

How many miles on the car?
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Old Oct 1, 2009 | 10:34 AM
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Miles is 54k. the whistling noise comes from the hood, not the speckers. I tighten the spark plugs well, and made sure cables were tight, but I will recheck that this weekend. I called mazda and they wanna charge me 100 bux just to look at it. Motor mounts, I dont know if this may be the problem, The shakinness happens even more when AC is on. by the way, thanks for the quick reply..
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Old Oct 1, 2009 | 10:42 AM
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54k... did you tune the car after you bout it?
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Old Oct 1, 2009 | 10:46 AM
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I bought It at 47k, and I did not perform a tune up, except the regular oil change, air filter and things like that, and just recently I replaced the spark plugs. It ran fine but now is getting worse then before..
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Old Oct 1, 2009 | 10:52 AM
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Look up the DIY for the MAF. clean that.

If you can find a hill , go up it in high gear. See if you can accelerate normally. You may have a bad cat. Also after driving for awhile you can look under the car to see if it is glowing.

If motor mount is good MAF clean and cat seems ok, then you need to find a local club member to help you out.

May need to de carb the engine and do a cpmpression test.


do one thing at a time.
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Old Oct 1, 2009 | 08:09 PM
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Sounds like it could be a loose vacuum hose somewhere... that could explain the whistling.
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Old Oct 2, 2009 | 12:41 AM
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Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but my friend had the same exact symptoms on his 8. Took it to the dealer turns out that he had 0 compression in one of the rotors and he had to get a new engine. Is it shaking violently, with the CEL blinking?
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Old Oct 2, 2009 | 01:30 AM
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sounds like a similar issue i had to deal with, or still have.

within the first 4k rpm the car seems not to translate power to the wheels, it feels like as if you sit in a 2 horsepower ... something. Once you go over 4k it accelerates normaly - between 6k and 7k you can hear a strange noise, some sort of roar, a hissing or swooshing sound.

the first time i experienced it i went to my dealer and he had a look. there seemed to be alot of oxidation.

the second time, maybe 2 weeks ago i had a quick look under my hood myself and when i removed the cover from the battery it was covered with a white crust. I cleaned everything, put some oil on it and everything seemed fine.

yesterday i experienced it again. not as bad as before but noticable (i have a 2004 model myself so i have been using it quite a while) - i looked at the battery again and it appears to be leaking. what i assume happens is that the battery spews out sulfuric acid which then oxydates and somehow influences the performance especially in low rpm's.

Since it is still the first battery, i'll change that one over the course of next week. I'll report back here if that solves the issue.

if you have your first battery in there aswell, you should have a look under the cover and check if there is any residue.
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Old Oct 2, 2009 | 08:40 AM
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thanks to everyone for their replys, I have an appointment wedsnday at the mazda delaer here in RPB, FL. I will get back and report what where the results, Problebly going to hear alot of bull but, I have to take it in... Thanks again...
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Old Oct 2, 2009 | 10:16 AM
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Just check for yourself first. I'll come back here on Tuesday and report if the new battery does any good. If that is the case you can mention that to your dealer.

I bet they'll be pretty clueless, at least around here they act like they've never heard of a problem like that.
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Old Oct 2, 2009 | 02:08 PM
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dude ur headlights r cool! where can i get those kind of bulbs?
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Old Oct 2, 2009 | 10:30 PM
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Same thing happened to my car. It turned out that the ignition coil needed to be replaced ,the O2 sensor apparently melted and the spark plugs were bad.
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Old Oct 3, 2009 | 07:50 AM
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Originally Posted by ChesteRx8
dude ur headlights r cool! where can i get those kind of bulbs?

The halo fog lights I Got on Ebay... Andthe parking lights I got on FXrotary.com
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Old Oct 6, 2009 | 01:40 PM
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Originally Posted by SilverRenesis
The halo fog lights I Got on Ebay... Andthe parking lights I got on FXrotary.com
dude thanks!! oh i think fxrotary.com has shut down?
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Old Oct 7, 2009 | 03:10 AM
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Alright, here goes my report:

I removed my leaking battery and what I found was oxidate residue, corrosion all over - the whole part under the battery was full of it. I assume some jackass filled in too much destilated water so it spilled out.

I cleaned the whole mess and got a new battery - the issue was instantly solved. No stalling, no performance decrease, it runs as smooth as on the first day. I am surprised though that the battery actually held for over 5 years.

You should have a look at your battery, maybe actually remove it - however be careful on that part because it will reset your radio and I think the window automatic won't work either afterwards - so you most likely have to go to your dealer and have it fixed - shouldn't take longer than 10mins though.

Hope it works out for you.
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Old Oct 7, 2009 | 03:04 PM
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From: Windermere, FL
Originally Posted by SilverRenesis
thanks to everyone for their replys, I have an appointment wedsnday at the mazda delaer here in RPB, FL. I will get back and report what where the results, Problebly going to hear alot of bull but, I have to take it in... Thanks again...
any updates from the dealer? i think i have the same issue man
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